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Onkako
A large, sturdy herbivorous tetrapedal pugnaculentomid, native to the planet Kokael. In Kokaelian civilization The tough exoskeleton of the onkako is thought to have been the inspiration for the first Kokaelian tanks. The internal flesh and fluids of the onkako were once regarded by Kokaelians as a highly expensive delicacy, not due to its particularly delicious flavor, but almost solely due to the sheer difficulty involved in obtaining it from within the onkako's iron-hard body. They were also occasionally domesticated by ancient Kokaelian cultures, used frequently in heavy lifting and moving tasks (carried out largely with their sturdy antlers), but more commonly however as war-beasts. It is thought this was achieved by letting a captive onkako go without food almost to the point of starvation, and then, on the battlefield, launching arrows into the enemy lines laced with the potent scent of Kokaelian fruits, which would attract the irritable onkakos into the enemy's army, where, naturally met with aggression, they went into a rage wherein they would charge and kill many Kokaelian soldiers with their powerful antlers and tough hooves. This practice was eventually abandoned as the Kokaelians began to increase in knowledge and globalize their civilization. It was found to be both impractical (given both the eccentric method by which the task was accomplished and the fact that the targets killed by the enraged starving onkakos during battle were both friends and foes) and cruel to the animals, which would often either be slaughtered in battle or died of starvation before they could be used in battle at all. In the wild Today they are an endangered species relegated to wildlife reserves and safari parks, with estimated remaining individuals in the wild ranging from 8,000 to 200. Physiology Originally, onkakos in the wild were forest and grassland foragers, having no jaws with which to eat solid foods however, thus puncturing the thick skins of Kokaelian fruits and drinking their pulp and fluids through their armored proboscises (occasionally also ripping through the bark of Kokaelian trees with their antlers and drinking the fluids therein). Onkako females are almost exclusively found in small herds of eight to twenty, while males (though sometimes members of such herds) are more commonly solitary animals, traversing forests and savannahs on essential walkabout, moving from herd to herd mating with females, spreading its genetic heritage to as great an expanse of territory as possible. Onkakos (as with many Kokaelian animals) have very poor eyesight, despite the great size of their rounded eyes (located on the backs of their heads, for sighting the movements of potential predators behind them), and instead rely on masses of chemical-sensing whiskers projecting from a pair of bulbous nasal cavities beneath their segmented necks, perceiving their world almost solely through a highly-developed sense of smell, with which they locate the pungent scents of the fruits they feed on (and even potentially constructing entire images out of pure chemical signals of odor). It has also been observed that mature males sometimes secrete a highly-acidic gastric fluid from their proboscises--a behavior which appears to be used either for territorial marking or in the deterrence of other males (as each males onkako appears to have a natural aversion to the gastric fluid of another male--presumably because of the renowned ghastly odor this substance gives off, therefore acting as an essential repellent for male onkakos). This strange acidic fluid also appears to be toxic, and is thought to have been used occasionally in ancient Kokaelian cultures for poisons. It is currently unknown as to why females do not secrete the substance, but this has so far been taken as evidence that it largely functions as a male territorial marker. Given their massive size (between twelve and fifteen feet tall in adults of both sexes) and incredibly bulky, thick exoskeletons, onkakos have no natural predators.